True Love and Other Impossible Odds

Gr 10 Up–Can an algorithm help you find your perfect match? Grace Tang, a Chinese American freshman at a small liberal arts college in Vermont, is determined to find out. As a project for her Game Theory class, Grace helps create a survey designed to find people’s ideal romance on campus. After the project goes viral, Grace is full of optimism, not only that her own match with classmate Jamie will grow, but also that the success of the algorithm will guarantee her a prestigious summer research position. But as the promising relationships start to crumble, and her feelings for Julia, a classmate on the ski team, become harder to ignore, Grace wonders if she’s missed other variables in her quest to systematize love. This sweet romance stands out for its nuanced exploration of the pressure of parental expectations and the complexity of grief. High school readers will be intrigued by the glimpse at college life and root for Grace as she begins to define love and success on her own terms.